Caesar continues to be a fascinating historical figure today. I think this has something to do with the continued popularity of the play.

Caesar is the star of the Roman empire and so we go to see a play about him (or, kind of about him). Julius Caesar is perhaps the most well-known figure from perhaps the greatest civil/military empire in the history of the world - at least the Western world.

This is just one of many explanations of the play's continued popularity, of course.

There may be resonances between Caesar's rise to power and the tyrannies of the early and mid-twentieth century. I hesitate to make the direct comparison between Caesar and Hitler or Mussolini...but there may be some "thematic" overlap there.

I think every leader is afraid this will happen to him or her. You can be a good leader, but then you are taken out by someone more ruthless and more ambitious. Just being a good leader does not make you safe.

I think the appeal of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar lies in the fact that Brutus embodies the idea of the tragic hero so well. He strives to be "noble" and "honorable" in all that he does, and pretty much succeeds. But even so, he cannot achieve his ultimate goal. He is victimized by his own desire to be a certain kind of person. Unfortunately for Brutus, the kind of person he wants to be is not the kind of person who ultimately succeeds in politics and war.